Hundreds turn out for a muddy Stateline Woods 5K

Staff photo by Wm. Shawn Weigel
Runners course down the hillside at the Stateline Woods Preserve in Kennett Township at the start of the fifth annual Stateline Woods 5k, sponsored by the Land Conservancy for Southern Chester County on Saturday, May 11, 2013.

And both ladies were familiar with the bigger causes at stake, as the event serves as a fund raiser for the nonprofit Land Conservancy of Southern Chester County.

“If it’s for the environment, I’m there,” Hardes said.

Conservancy executive director Gwen Lacy said that while the proceeds from the event are certainly needed – they go exclusively to the organization’s operational costs – she kept a closer eye on the number of participants than she did the dollar amount brought in.

“We seem to be around 225 or so,” Lacy said. “Which is great, for this kind of day, when it rains.”

Lacy watched the start of the race from the top of Cross Point Hill, a rise near the center of the 82-acre preserve that bears the name of the subdivision that would have otherwise been built right where the race was taking place.

“They wanted to build a road right through here, an extra road, in order to have an entrance,” she said, gesturing to the slope that winds its way to the top of the hill. “And we found out that was the original name of the farm – Cross Field Farm.

Lacy said the course takes a somewhat different path this year with the addition of the Marshal Bridge preserve nearby.

“We used to run more through the state of Delaware, but now we’re staying on out preserve,” she said.

The run started five years ago when the preserve officially opened and kicked off with an Eco Festival, Lacy said; since then it’s attracted hundreds, if not thousands of runners from throughout the region.

“It keeps getting better every year,” she said. “We’re very pleased.”

The event also he;lps spread the word about the Conservancy’s efforts to preserve land throughout the Southern Chester County region – although it seemed like many of the participants were already well aware.

“We have to conserve our resources and protect what can’t be replaced,” said Simmons.